Lien on property

[Milton F.]

Hi BP, I'm in the process of purchasing a property and the seller has an $8,000 lien on property. Seller thought they could pay the lien off as part of their closing cost, but according to title company they need to pay the lien first before we close. Should I pay the lien and subtract that amount from the sales price or how would you guys handle this situation? Thanks for the help

[Matt Motil]

If the seller doesn't have the funds to pay the lien, then you could draft an addendum to the sales contract by where you agree to pay it and reduce the cost of purchase. The easiest thing is to have the seller pay it off. It would be a bad situation to have the deal fall through last minute for some reason and you're out the $8k and without the property.